Just a Quickie ...

(...that's what she said!!)

I'm in the process of investigating a move to a Wordpress website, making things fun and more interesting-looking for y'all, and somehow, that has tapped my creative energy.

Okay, that's only part of my excuse for not writing a long, more interesting post.  Because I do have things to share that are of greater interest and relevance to my life, so I'll just keep writing for a bit .....

I've joined a (paid) dating website. At my parents insistence encouragement repeated suggestion, and on their tab. Writing that profile for myself was one of the more challenging projects that I've had in a while. But it does seem to have garnered some interest, and I have two potential dates coming up.... well, we shall see. And I'll report back, never fear.

My father had minor surgery last Friday, and it has made me panic. Repeatedly. Despite the fact that it was a routine procedure and he's been recovering nicely so far (knock wood), the whole process has scared the hell out of me. Maybe it's the control freak in me; maybe it's facing the mortality of my parents; whatever the case, Dad has been in much better spirits than I've been.

I mentioned to my boss this week that perhaps I should take some time off this month, since I've had no vacation time. She completely agreed .... so now what?  Do I take a 'staycation'? Go somewhere by myself for a long weekend?

And... today is my Friday. I'm so glad it's almost the weekend.  I'm having dinner with good my dear friend L tonight, celebrating two birthdays tomorrow night ... AND PLAYING WITH MY NEW iPHONE THE REST OF THE TIME!

Hey, I wrote more than I thought I would. Cool.

Mumbled Musings on a Monday

Because my ADHD mind cannot focus on work quite yet, and I can't seem to write a coherent blog post, I'll just fall back on good ol' list-making....
~ I had what I thought was a good date last Thursday night, with a guy I met online and had been chatting with for a few weeks. But apparently, he didn't feel the same way; he sent me an IM on Friday morning to say sorry, but he wasn't interested. I appreciated the honesty, and I told him as much. My pride was a bit wounded but fortunately, didn't last long, as I quickly realized that it's entirely his loss. Clean plate! Moving on!

~ DC has been suffering from record-breaking heat, and although I dearly wish I had ready access to a pool, I vastly prefer this weather to the freezing cold and absurd amounts of snow we experienced last winter. (Go ahead, disagree with me!)

~ I ordered the iPhone 4. This is worthy of notation because I cannot wait to get it, and because I am a nerd. I proudly accept this.

~ A long-overdue chat with my sister on Sunday afternoon was a wonderful way to restore my perspective on a number of things. Not the least of which being the fact that I have an awesome sister.

~ Having taken my flex day and fully enjoying my three day weekend, I feel slightly less vacation-deprived.

And.... that's about it from me.   How was your weekend?  How has your summer been so far?

Am I Mean?

Learning to date again....

He seemed charming enough. I mean, I did arrive an hour before my friend, and he didn't kick me out of the booth I'd snagged. And he was cute, so I left my business card with the receipt.  How very DC.

His first email came two days later, and despite that the subject line was "Hey Kiddo!" (a term of endearment that I reserve for my younger sister and, therefore, assume that others only use it for siblings, relatives, children, pets, and the like) I responded that it was nice to hear from him. He wrote back asking for my number so we could make plans; I obliged; then he responded saying that we should "deffanately" hang out soon.

This gave me a moment of pause. I'm a stickler for correct spelling and grammar. I can understand and forgive errors in text messages, but in this world of spell-checking smart phones, how does one get away with sending "deffanately"? (And the emails did say 'Sent From My Mobile Device').

His next email came in the form of a Facebook friend request. It was accompanied by a message that he was new to Facebook, and was he doing this right? Almost simultaneously, he sent me a text message to say that he'd sent me a Facebook friend request and had he done it right?

I ignored both. Not only do I tend to avoid making FB friends with people I don't really know (and to say that I 'know' someone includes exchanges on Twitter, regular message board interactions, and posting comments on each others blogs. Basically, if I don't know you in the real world, we at least have a sense of each other online.) but I also wondered why he didn't have any friends on Facebook to explain the rather simple process to him.

This was right before Memorial Day weekend, which included my birthday celebration, a date with another guy, spending a lot of time with friends, seeing my parents, and significant amounts of time spent doing absolutely nothing.  Then I got slammed at work. This is all to say .... two weeks passed and I'd forgotten about "Mr. Deffanately."

Then, last Wednesday night, I got a text message from him: "I thought we were gonna hang out."  I thought about it briefly, felt no desire to respond, so I didn't.

The next night, he called me at 11pm. I didn't answer the phone. I consulted with friends and asked the Twitter world for advice; the majority responded that I should continue to ignore him if I wasn't interested. And then he texted me again: "Whats up?"

I quickly typed, "Please don't call or text me again. Thank you."

His response: "I'm sorry... I thought you wanted to hear from me... Won't do it again."

Thank goodness, I thought.

Then my phone buzzed again: "Why the hell did you give me your card then?!"

I sighed and wondered the same thing. I clearly need a screening process.

"Stop quoting Tennyson...."

"... and fucking spill it, Jessica. I know you have some good shit to share on your blog."

Thank you, Dr. Gatewood.

My darling, brutally honest, eloquently filthy and charming boy.... what can I share with my blog readers that they don't already suspect of me, but not all of them may want to see in writing?

A few topics come to mind:

~ My social life. Because I do seem to have one, after all. Somehow, my free time is not entirely spent with the cat, the new TV and the interwebz as much anymore. But I think I'm more likely to tag my friends (or be tagged) in a Tweet about how we're a collective #hotmess than I am to sit down and write about it afterward. Still, there are more mimosa-filled brunches, dinners with coworkers, unexpected shopping trips, outings to the Mall, and afternoons spent getting accidentally sunburned with friends over beer than there have been for several months.  Perhaps they should be recorded for posterity.

~ Dating and/or sex.  This area of my life still seems too intimate for these virtual pages, maybe because I have only recently begun to venture back into the world of heterosexual relationships. I have the sense that once I have something more substantial (and more specific) to say than "I think this could be fun", I'll expand on this topic. 

~ My family. Nah, you don't need to hear about the details of my relationship with my slightly-overprotective, wonderfully generous, stereotypically-Jewish-on-occasion parents. (Or do you? They can be awfully entertaining... Maybe this is another area in which I should think about sharing more.) In the meantime, you can follow my amazing sister on Twitter, and read her blog(s) if you want to know about her life and times; among other things, she's an artist, a poet, a comedienne, a musician, a cat-lover, besides being the most genetically-similar person to me on the planet.

Single Gal

So, there was a time, not too long ago, when I was in a relationship. That ended, rather abruptly, last October.

The grisly details are not worth sharing. It's enough to say that it was unexpected and I was left heartbroken.  And I still am, in some ways.

I've avoided writing about it directly here because, for a while, the breakup was too painful to think about, let alone write about. It was as if there was a part of me that didn't want to acknowledge that it was over - not because I wanted to pretend I still had a boyfriend, but it was almost as if ... well, if I didn't write about it here, I could just focus on life as Me, Moving Forward.

Not to mention the fact that I felt as though I was spending enough time on Twitter (and in my personal journal, and on my therapist's couch, and into the ears of my friends and family, and the occasional coworker) going over what had happened to me. I gained a great deal of inspiration from fellow blogger Pure Gold Lady -- she's an amazing woman who writes beautifully and candidly about her life, moving forward, after a painful breakup.

But now, enough time has passed that I don't constantly ache. I don't feel like an open wound. I'm not having panic attacks at the idea of leaving my apartment. I'm slowly but surely, moving forward in my life. This has been a long process - and one that is not quite complete - that has included drowning myself in work, getting a body piercing, reading a lot, letting myself stay at home and cry once in a while, and constantly reminding myself that I'm doing okay.

And... I'm doing okay.

 

With Open Wings

And Now For Something Completely Different:

...it's time for a quick update.

~ DC in December never fails to surprise me. After spending the better part of 30 years here (wow... what a concept...) you would think I'd be used to the lack of consistent weather. But no, this is not the case. I was freezing cold this weekend, but pleasantly surprised by the light snowfall on Saturday night. Shivered at work today. But tomorrow, it will be in the upper 50's, and there's a chance of rain.

~ Ah, Facebook. Thank you for letting me know that the Nice Jewish Doctor is "now in a relationship". Because I think the boy deserves someone who doesn't feel obliged to go out with him, someone who really cares about him.

~ Why am I feeling so generous to this shmuck? Well, I have recently found myself "In a Relationship", as well. (No, my Facebook status will not change.) And yes, I was hinting at this in an earlier post, when things were starting to develop. Just in case you were wondering.

~ Work is very strange right now. Things are fine for me (i.e. my job is safe, my department is still intact) but there's just been too much change in a very short period of time.

~ This city is going to be un-fucking-BELIEVABLE during Obama's inaguration. (I can't wait!)I could devote several posts to the news stories we see every day about how many people will be here, how we should all walk into the city since the Metro will be a mess, et cetera.

For example, one of my favorites: D.C. Bars Open 24 Hours...

Thanksgiving Countdown

I'm excited that it's almost Thanksgiving -- it's one of my favorite holidays. Even though my younger sister will not be joining me and our parents in our annual overindulgence, I have invited several coworkers and friends to join us, and it should be a lot of fun. There is likely to be some difficulty as my parents and I determine who is responsible for which dish, but things will be fine once we have staked out our respective territories in the kitchen, and I've opened the first bottle of wine.

DC seems to be emptying out already. There were very few people on the streets on my way in to work this morning, and at least half of my office has already left. And whomever will be coming back to DC for their family Thanksgiving will probably do so at the very last minute... but then stay through the weekend.

It's been an unusually quiet day for me. I've had a lot of time to think about what happened in our office last week, and the bigger financial picture in which these changes took place... and honestly, I'm trying not to be scared.

I've also been thinking about my life as a single girl. I've been dating, spending time "at the buffet", and generally having fun for over a year at this point. I had told myself (and a number of boys, as well) that I would continue to do so until I provided with a convincing argument to do otherwise. Maybe it's because the holidays are starting, or maybe it's the cold weather wreaking havoc on me, I don't know, but I'm starting to think it may be time for a change.

oy vey

We went to a relatively nice Italian restaurant. We had a nice meal, we had a great conversation, and I thought to myself "well, there are no sparks flying here for me, but he likes me, and I suppose I could go out with him again."

Then the bill came. And granted, I did reach for my wallet -- but I always do, and okay, maybe it's playing a game or a test, but if I've been asked out, I expect that I'll be told "Put that away, I'm paying..." and then I can say "Fine, then let me buy you a drink/coffee/dessert!" -- and the next thing I knew, we'd split the bill.

I'm not saying this is a major offense. But... but... fuck it, that boy is a DOCTOR. I'm a measly non-profit employee!

He did take the metro with me to my neighborhood and walk me to my apartment building -- which I told him was unnecessary, but he insisted, and he lives one stop away from me -- and that was very nice of him. We got to my building, he said "Soooo...." and I gave him a peck on the mouth, skipped up the stairs, saying "Thanks! Hope to talk to you soon!"

He's already texted me to ask me out for this weekend. My sis is in town so I have an excuse to postpone. I also talked to my mom, who said (in a stern voice) "... oh he'll pay next time!" I started laughing hysterically but said I wasn't sure yet about a next time.

Oy.


.... Update: We're going out again.

my mother, the yenta

Two Jewish mothers (both doctors) are deep in a serious talk,
Referrals exchanged and medicinal information they swap.
Business concluded, diagnoses confirmed, they turn to a more pressing concern:
Each has an eldest child who is single. But surely, this issue is one they can turn!
"My son... he’s a gentleman… truly a sweet little guy.”
"And my daughter… she’s a darling – and, really, not too hard on the eyes!”
Voicemails are left, and emails are sent; surely this match they can cook –
Both daughter and son are joyfully told: "You can find each other on Facebook!"
- - - - - - -

I don't write poetry, so pardon my sloppiness, bad rhymes, horrid meter, et cetera. But there was something about the particular situation in which my mother placed me that inspired me to write that "poem" earlier this month.

Anyhow. I have dinner with that young man this evening, and (after fuming at my mother for her meddling for the past two weeks, but now having gotten over it.... sort of) I'm sure it will be perfectly nice. Although I did tell my mother a few nights ago that I think her biological clock for me is ticking much, much faster than my own; she didn't disagree.

If nothing else, I'll be wearing one of my favorite DVF's, the Spotted Frog Jessica. It looks something like this on me...

Guess I should go get ready.....!